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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
I had some huge huge issues with this book, but it's such a lovely town with beautiful characters, and I love that the books have been about the town, and not just focused on one set of people. Great series so far.
I really enjoyed this continuation of the first book in the series. I would be perfectly happy to just continue to follow these characters through the rest of the books in the series. Just a nice, easy read with some serious topics throw in...but not a heavy read at all.
4.5 stars.
This story was even better than book 1. It was a "tying up of loose ends" or dealing with unfinished business kind of book.
Couple 1: Sarah and Cooper were still in the "not fully committed" category thanks to Sarah's trust issues. Pressures at work and a blast from Cooper's past forced the couple to confront their issues and finally define their relationship. It was definitely surprising to see the man in the relationship asking the "is it me? Why won't you commit to me?" kind of questions. But they were a great couple and their chemistry was so believable. I knew their journey wouldntbe seamless but I knew Sarah would come around eventually. I loved what Cooper's ex Bridget brought to this equation. It made this story even better.
Couple 2: Gina and Mac are the real deal, so I wasn't concerned when Mac's ex wife Cee Jay returned to town to reclaim her family after 10 years. I loved how Aunt Lou, Gina, Mac and the kids dealt with this emotional shock. I loved how Gina proactively dealt with Ashley's meltdown and the strength it took girls her to confront her past.
This book further developed the characters we meet in book 1 and demonstrated the authors writing wasn't a fluke. Robyn Carr brought the heat and emotion and humor once again. What a heart warming series. This series is shaping up to be one of my favorites. I've already got audiobook 3 because I'm so stoked about the hero in that book.
This story was even better than book 1. It was a "tying up of loose ends" or dealing with unfinished business kind of book.
Couple 1: Sarah and Cooper were still in the "not fully committed" category thanks to Sarah's trust issues. Pressures at work and a blast from Cooper's past forced the couple to confront their issues and finally define their relationship. It was definitely surprising to see the man in the relationship asking the "is it me? Why won't you commit to me?" kind of questions. But they were a great couple and their chemistry was so believable. I knew their journey wouldntbe seamless but I knew Sarah would come around eventually. I loved what Cooper's ex Bridget brought to this equation. It made this story even better.
Couple 2: Gina and Mac are the real deal, so I wasn't concerned when Mac's ex wife Cee Jay returned to town to reclaim her family after 10 years. I loved how Aunt Lou, Gina, Mac and the kids dealt with this emotional shock. I loved how Gina proactively dealt with Ashley's meltdown and the strength it took girls her to confront her past.
This book further developed the characters we meet in book 1 and demonstrated the authors writing wasn't a fluke. Robyn Carr brought the heat and emotion and humor once again. What a heart warming series. This series is shaping up to be one of my favorites. I've already got audiobook 3 because I'm so stoked about the hero in that book.
This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
The Newcomer is the second in the Thunder Point series, and what we have here is pretty much a continuation of the first book. At the end of the first book, we had all four couples admit their feelings for each other. In The Newcomer its been seven months, and we see them together. Technically the story is surrounding Mac and Gina. But there is also focus on Cooper and Sara and a bit on our Teenage romance with Landon and Evie. This story brings a woman from Mac's past, his ex-wife. We see what this does to his children, most especially Evie. We also have something traumatic happen with Gina's daughter that really tests Mac and Gina. Cooper and Sara have their own setback in their relationship. The story even though there technically isn't one main story, I really am loving how this series has been developing. What I had most fun was seeing the development in these relationships, and seeing them being tested in different ways. I enjoyed the different twists in the story, and each time I read Robyn Carr I fall in love even more with this coastal town. It resembles that small town charm, with plenty of drama and tension. I had a ball with this one mostly because we see a continuation of the previous book, only a bit more focus on Mac and Gina. There is some new characters that come into play and some twists I didn't expect. I love the way each of these characters is so unique from the other, and they are not all the same. A fabulous story of love being tested, seeing certain characters grow because of the conflict and having the good and the bad in human life be shown. The Newcomer wrapped its way around my finger and I am so excited to read the next book.
The Newcomer is the second in the Thunder Point series, and what we have here is pretty much a continuation of the first book. At the end of the first book, we had all four couples admit their feelings for each other. In The Newcomer its been seven months, and we see them together. Technically the story is surrounding Mac and Gina. But there is also focus on Cooper and Sara and a bit on our Teenage romance with Landon and Evie. This story brings a woman from Mac's past, his ex-wife. We see what this does to his children, most especially Evie. We also have something traumatic happen with Gina's daughter that really tests Mac and Gina. Cooper and Sara have their own setback in their relationship. The story even though there technically isn't one main story, I really am loving how this series has been developing. What I had most fun was seeing the development in these relationships, and seeing them being tested in different ways. I enjoyed the different twists in the story, and each time I read Robyn Carr I fall in love even more with this coastal town. It resembles that small town charm, with plenty of drama and tension. I had a ball with this one mostly because we see a continuation of the previous book, only a bit more focus on Mac and Gina. There is some new characters that come into play and some twists I didn't expect. I love the way each of these characters is so unique from the other, and they are not all the same. A fabulous story of love being tested, seeing certain characters grow because of the conflict and having the good and the bad in human life be shown. The Newcomer wrapped its way around my finger and I am so excited to read the next book.
I read this for work, as a book "outside my comfort zone". It was okay, but I got impatient for it to be over. It was just kind of blah - a book about nice people living a mostly nice life in a mostly nice community. It had a small bit of not-pornografically-descriptive sex in in it, so it would be a pretty safe choice for people seeking a "clean" romance to read.
Single father Mac and single mother Gina have always set aside their own hopes and dreams for their children. Now just when it looks like they might finally find some happiness with each other, Mac's ex-wife shows up wanting to reconnect and Gina's daughter suffers severe depression after her long-term boyfriend dumps her for another girl.
The Newcomer is a mosaic of stories which intersect in the town of Thunderpoint. As is Robyn Carr's style of writing, some stories will find their conclusion within the pages of a single book, while other stories will be revisited again in the coming books.
It works for me. I love that I will revisit Mac and Gina, Cooper and Sarah as the series progresses. I love that I'm getting to know characters in these books who will get their own story in future instalments.
Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
The Newcomer is a mosaic of stories which intersect in the town of Thunderpoint. As is Robyn Carr's style of writing, some stories will find their conclusion within the pages of a single book, while other stories will be revisited again in the coming books.
It works for me. I love that I will revisit Mac and Gina, Cooper and Sarah as the series progresses. I love that I'm getting to know characters in these books who will get their own story in future instalments.
Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC
This is a wonderful series! I like the two story-lines per book. She still keeps you wanting more! I can't wait to read the next one! The sad part is that I read them so fast that I catch up to what has already been written and have to wait for the newest one!!! :)
This was fine for a nice afternoon read. I didn't like it as much as I ended up liking the first book in the series mainly because the lion's share of the book read like a PSA on teenage dating pitfalls.
Like the first book, this one started slow, so much so that I had a hard time sinking into it. The early pages almost read like a laundry list of stuff that people did...."he did this and then she did that and then they did this other thing". So, no, it wasn't catching me.
But eventually the story started to happen. It continues with Cooper and Sarah's romance, which is going along fine. I like Cooper more than I like Sarah -- mainly because Sarah feels like she is the least defined of all the main characters or maybe because she doesn't get as much of a POV as the rest.
I thought the story would center mainly on Mac and Gina. To some extent it did but not as much as I would have liked. Their respective exes make an appearance which is where the majority of the plot for them resides.
However my biggest problem with the book lie with the fact that much of the story was taken over by Gina's 16 y.o. daughter's dating problems. In the first book we met Ashley and Downey who were dating. Downey was a freshman in college while Ash was a junior in high school. In that book Downey was written as a decent level headed guy. Well in this book the author basically does a 180 on him. In the meantime we get treated to a somewhat, imo, pedantic primer on such things a teenage depression, online bullying, birth control, sexting, drug use etc.
On it's own, Ashley and Downey's romantic implosion wouldn't have been so bad and in places it was great drama, but on the whole it veered almost into after school special territory. Hence this was a weakness in this book for me.
When the story shifts back to Mac & Gina or Cooper, the book strengthens. I like the subplots with both the exes and I thought the author built a nice contrast between Mac's ex-wife and Gina's long absent baby daddy.
Cooper also gets a blast from his past that adds a interesting wrinkle to his story going forward. I did think there was a 'tied up in a convenient red bow' element to this plot development that had me rolling my eyes a bit. But still, I liked this plot so much more than the Ashley/Downey thing so I couldn't be too mad at it.
So overall good read. And even though I wasn't thrilled with the teen storyline, I am still looking forward the the next one to see how some of the dangling plot threads will resolve.
Like the first book, this one started slow, so much so that I had a hard time sinking into it. The early pages almost read like a laundry list of stuff that people did...."he did this and then she did that and then they did this other thing". So, no, it wasn't catching me.
But eventually the story started to happen. It continues with Cooper and Sarah's romance, which is going along fine. I like Cooper more than I like Sarah -- mainly because Sarah feels like she is the least defined of all the main characters or maybe because she doesn't get as much of a POV as the rest.
I thought the story would center mainly on Mac and Gina. To some extent it did but not as much as I would have liked. Their respective exes make an appearance which is where the majority of the plot for them resides.
However my biggest problem with the book lie with the fact that much of the story was taken over by Gina's 16 y.o. daughter's dating problems. In the first book we met Ashley and Downey who were dating. Downey was a freshman in college while Ash was a junior in high school. In that book Downey was written as a decent level headed guy. Well in this book the author basically does a 180 on him. In the meantime we get treated to a somewhat, imo, pedantic primer on such things a teenage depression, online bullying, birth control, sexting, drug use etc.
On it's own, Ashley and Downey's romantic implosion wouldn't have been so bad and in places it was great drama, but on the whole it veered almost into after school special territory. Hence this was a weakness in this book for me.
When the story shifts back to Mac & Gina or Cooper, the book strengthens. I like the subplots with both the exes and I thought the author built a nice contrast between Mac's ex-wife and Gina's long absent baby daddy.
Cooper also gets a blast from his past that adds a interesting wrinkle to his story going forward. I did think there was a 'tied up in a convenient red bow' element to this plot development that had me rolling my eyes a bit. But still, I liked this plot so much more than the Ashley/Downey thing so I couldn't be too mad at it.
So overall good read. And even though I wasn't thrilled with the teen storyline, I am still looking forward the the next one to see how some of the dangling plot threads will resolve.
This is a book I was on the fence about, but after reading it, I've made my decision about the series. To me, this book focuses too much on the relationship from the previous book than the relationship that should have been its focus: Mac and Gina's. It was very confusing to me and I kept having to flip flop through chapters to pick up the thread of what happened with each couple when something good was happening! There is a lot of emotional angst and drama in this book, and I think the book suffers for it because it drew the focus away from the romance between the two couples. There is also a decided lack of trust on Sarah and Cooper's part that made things unnecessarily difficult. The book once again ends on a slight slight cliffhanger, leaving readers to wonder if one of the characters introduced has a romantic relationship with another female character introduced in the book. I’m giving this one 2 stars and won’t be continuing with the series. The flip flopping was just too much for me, and it makes me worried for trying to read Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series!
Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.
I enjoyed The Newcomer even more than the first book in the series, The Wanderer. But given the blurb above, I was a little surprised by how seldom Mac and Gina take center stage together in this book. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. Carr has always woven her romances with other storylines, whether about other couples or individuals. The Thunder Point series takes this tendency even further than the Virgin River books did; the romantic relationships become simply threads in the tapestry, rather than the central motif.
And there are a lot of threads to follow in The Newcomer! Gina and Mac’s relationship, which finally got started toward the end of the last book, is still developing. So is the love between Cooper and commitment-shy Sarah (The Wanderer.) Both bonds are tested in this book. Mac’s gorgeous ex-wife turns up, apparently interested in rebuilding ties with both Mac and their children – though her reappearance isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Meanwhile, Gina’s 16-year-old daughter Ashley goes through hell after her college baseball-star boyfriend dumps her. In the Cooper-and-Sarah department, Sarah faces a game-changing career decision which threatens not only her relationship with Cooper but her beloved brother’s senior year as a star football player. And Cooper gets some very unexpected news of his own.
What keeps all this from becoming a soap opera is the ordinariness of most of the people and situations. For the most part, Carr’s characters aren’t rich and glamorous, and they don’t usually wallow in drama (with the occasional exception.) They are everyday folks going about their everyday lives the best they can; they could be my neighbors, or yours. Carr is particularly good at making me care about all her characters: Mac and Gina, Sarah and Cooper, Ashley, Eve, and Landon, and even minor characters like Aunt Lou. And while the end of The Newcomer doesn’t promise a magically perfect happy-ever-after, the love and commitment of the two main couples shines clearly. I’m looking forward to the next installment, and hoping we see more of all these characters.
FTC disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed The Newcomer even more than the first book in the series, The Wanderer. But given the blurb above, I was a little surprised by how seldom Mac and Gina take center stage together in this book. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been. Carr has always woven her romances with other storylines, whether about other couples or individuals. The Thunder Point series takes this tendency even further than the Virgin River books did; the romantic relationships become simply threads in the tapestry, rather than the central motif.
And there are a lot of threads to follow in The Newcomer! Gina and Mac’s relationship, which finally got started toward the end of the last book, is still developing. So is the love between Cooper and commitment-shy Sarah (The Wanderer.) Both bonds are tested in this book. Mac’s gorgeous ex-wife turns up, apparently interested in rebuilding ties with both Mac and their children – though her reappearance isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Meanwhile, Gina’s 16-year-old daughter Ashley goes through hell after her college baseball-star boyfriend dumps her. In the Cooper-and-Sarah department, Sarah faces a game-changing career decision which threatens not only her relationship with Cooper but her beloved brother’s senior year as a star football player. And Cooper gets some very unexpected news of his own.
What keeps all this from becoming a soap opera is the ordinariness of most of the people and situations. For the most part, Carr’s characters aren’t rich and glamorous, and they don’t usually wallow in drama (with the occasional exception.) They are everyday folks going about their everyday lives the best they can; they could be my neighbors, or yours. Carr is particularly good at making me care about all her characters: Mac and Gina, Sarah and Cooper, Ashley, Eve, and Landon, and even minor characters like Aunt Lou. And while the end of The Newcomer doesn’t promise a magically perfect happy-ever-after, the love and commitment of the two main couples shines clearly. I’m looking forward to the next installment, and hoping we see more of all these characters.
FTC disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.